Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Bleacher Spirit

A little more than a week until we who pay attention start buying '08 Red Sox tickets. I'm still waiting to hear from the team about renewing my 10-game plan. I'd like to know which games those are, so I don't buy a game I already have. I know I've renewed earlier than this in past years. They're kind of leaving us in the dark. Anyone know anything? I've read rumors of 20-game plans, and how 10-game plan holders who've complained about seat location in the past got first dibs on those. Too bad I like my seats. Ah well, 20 games is a little too dick for my plasma.

I thought maybe they were waiting for something having to do with the fact that all the bleacher seats have been ripped out. (The red, uh, chair, is still there--see pic. Got it from someone on a message board, don't know who to credit.) So the seat in front of me won't have teeth marks in it anymore. I missed my chance to buy a pair of the ones they just took out. But if anyone who bought some got one with teeth marks, you know who sat behind it, ten times each year. I'm wondering if the seats will be positioned exactly as they were before. Hopefully my seats still exist--they are at the end of a row. One way to improve getting in and out of the bleachers would be to connect the top right to that new stairway that's behind grandstand section one. That wouldn't be too hard, and you wouldn't lose any seats.

I'd like to get the Sox Pax (singular) with Opening Day in it. For the second time in my life, I have a reason to specifically want to be there for the opener. Hey, if you get a SP with Opening Day in it, and I can only get a different one, wanna trade? We'll talk.

You know how the current ownership always sells stuff and people don't like it or whatever? Like seats and pieces of turf and bricks and autographed jock straps? Well, I thought you should know that they took out those temporary "party boxes" that were put up for the 1999 All-Star Game, and carted them out...to the dump. No attempt to cut them up and sell them for $99 per square foot. But I'm sure none of the criticizers will commend them for just throwing this stuff away. I still don't see the harm in that stuff, anyway. I'd love to get a piece of Fenway, and I'm glad these people know to offer it up. Terrible job that the prices are so high, but still, the stuff gets sold, the team gets the money, they do the right things with it, and we win the World Series. Twice. That's kinda what I was hoping for all along.

The Charlie Brown Christmas special was on tonight. My girlfriend thought it was too early. I say, it's on, what are you gonna do, not watch? So I watched. I've got a question. You know how the point of the show is how Christmas is commercialized and phony? And they go to the Christmas tree place and they're all aluminum and colorful? Well, I appreciate what they're going for, of course. But as long as I've been alive, the standard Christmas tree has pretty much been an actual tree. Everybody goes and picks one out and straps it to the hood and then decorates it. Sure, some people have the plastic kind for whatever reason, but even those usually look like real trees anyway. I checked the end of the show, and I see it was made in 1965. Was there a crazy aluminum-tree trend back then? I mean, Schultz acted like it was a pretty big deal. I wonder what was up with this. Maybe people were putting pink trees in their jet-set, prefab, psychedelic swingin' lounges. Whatever the case, my favorite line in that show is when that uppity girl is gettin' all in Pigpen's grill, and she's all, Look at yourself, you're an effin' mess. And the Pen's like, "on the contrary, I didn't think I looked that good." That's such an "FU" to everybody who ever spent a little too much time on their personal appearance.

Love Pigpen! "In spite of my outward appearance, I shall try to run a neat inn."

I'm with you, I watched. It's part of the magic of the Christmas season... catching the nights Rudolf, The Grinch, and Charlie Brown are on. I'm also conflicted about whether or not I should buy them. Being able to watch it whenever makes it lose some of its magic, but they are so worthy of ownership. It's quite the dilemma.

I've always wondered about the aluminum tree thing, too. As a kid, I just lumped it into the category of jokes for adults that kids don't get all the way. Now, I'm like, wtf? Pink, aluminum trees?

Definitely life's biggest dilemma. And I'm sure I've blogged about this before--probably every year--but it really is an issue: Do you buy it so you can watch it anytime, or do you let the network dictate when you see it? The whole point of a "special" is that it's special--only on once a year. So I choose no to buy. However, if you miss it, you're screwed. So maybe buying just to have it in case you miss it is a good insurance policy. And then maybe you could pack it up with the holiday boxes, preventing yourself from breaking it out in June or something. When I lived with my sister and her kids for a few months, they had Frosty on DVD and just kept it on a continuous loop. I also got into Frosty Returns there, which I initially passed off as crap. It's surprisingly good, and Mark Mothersbaugh did the music.

Wow, with a mention of Charlie Brown and everything. "Sales peaked in 1964-1965." There ya go. This is so interesting. Now I feel like that special effectively put an end to this practice. So, Schultz said "this is stupid and here's why," and the people agreed and rose up and stopped doing it. Amazing. It really can happen. But the article does say they're making a comeback in a campy way. (Of course, another way to look at this would be that all these trees are cut down just so people can have it for a few weeks and then toss it into the woods. I did hear, though, that for the Rockefeller Center tree, after Xmas, they use it for wood to make houses for Habitat for Humanity.)

I'm with your GF on this one, Jere. ABC showed this year's Peanuts Christmas special WAY too early. I like the fact that TNT/TBS shows the Grinch special on a few different occasions during the season, but ABC shows the Peanuts one just once. I couldn't watch it last night because I was doing Trivia. But I have it on VHS, like I have most of my favorites (Grinch, Frosty, Rudolph) as well. (I only watch them during this season.)

Yesterday, as I was buying the World Series DVD, I saw the Peanuts Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas in a DVD package for just $35.99. I'm seriously considering getting it, or requesting it for Christmas, from Santa himself.

anyway, I had a real tree (Humphrey the potted tree) that I decorated for many years, but alas, he died. (sorry Kara) Now I buy a new Humphrey every year to plant outside, but they never make it. This year I will be on Humphrey # 5. I still think that I will buy one who will persevere through the spring drought of North Central Florida and become my outdoor Humphrey that I decorate every year, along with a new house Humphrey. We'll see.

I vaguely remember the Sesame Street Xmas special. I remember rooftops and Santa hats, possibly on Snuffy, but that's about it. I also remember Big Bird going to the Great Wall of China. What holiday was that for??

I remember back when I was very little, back around 1969-1970, my aunt and uncle had a silver aluminum tree with a blue/red/green color light wheel. At the time I thought it was really cool, but now when I think back on it, it was a pretty strange concept. I think they kept using it until around '74 or so...wonder if they still have it in storage.